The economic crisis — or “kreezis” as it’s known here — smacked Russia upside the head in 2008, basically putting a minus sign in front of its stellar growth rates and threatening its position as a BRIC country.

But no matter. If you want to come visit Moscow, you’ll still be paying boom prices so high that, if you can afford them, you probably didn’t know there was a kreezis anyway.

How expensive are Moscow hotels? Moscow hotels are soooo expensive that at an average rate — I repeat: average — of $420 a night — wait let’s stop and breathe on that one for a minute. $420 per night. On average.

Okay, so not only does that figure put Moscow hotels at a full $70-a-night higher than those of Abu Dhabi, it puts Moscow, again, in first place.

And, with GDP growth at -7.5%, hotel prices obviously aren’t coming down this year either.